preoccupation

[Fr. préoccupation, from Lat. præoccupatio.] [PREOCCUPATE.] *1. The act of seizing or taking po e ion of anything before another; preoccupancy; prior ocсираtion or po e ion. *2. An anticipation of objections. "As if by way of preoccupation , he should haue said."South: Sermons. 3. Anything which preoccupies or prepo e es the mind, so as to give it a certain disposition, leaning, or tendency; prepo e ion, bias, preju dice. "Not giving way to any preoccupation, or bya ."Locke: Conduct of the Understanding, § 10. pre-oc-cu-pied, pa. par. or a. [PREOCCUPY.] pre-oc'-cu-py, v. t. [Fr. préoccuper, from Lat. præoccupo.] [PREOCCUPATE.] 1. To seize or take po e ion of before another; as, to preoccupy a country not before held. I. Ordinary Language: 1. The act of preparing or fitting beforehand for any special purpose, use, service, or condition; a. making ready or fit. "You make grand preparation for a duke."- Shakesp .: Merry Wives of Windsor , iv. 5. 2. Previous measures of adaptation or fitne . "I will shew what preparations there were in nature for this di olution."-Burnet: Theory of the Earth. 3. Ceremonious introduction; ceremony. "I make bold to pre , with so little preparation, upon you."- Shakesp.: Merry Wives, ii. 2. 4. The state of being prepared, ready, or fit; preparedne , readine . 5. That which is prepared, made, or arranged for a particular purpose; the measures taken or things done in readine for any thing or person. "Jealousy shall be call'd a urance, and all the preparation overthrown." - Shakesp.: Much Ado about Nothing, ii. 2. 6. Anything made or prepared by a special proce , as a medical substance prepared for the use of a patient, a part of the body for anatomical pared by cookery, . hand. "Preoccupied with what you rather must do Than what you should." Shakesp.: Coriolanus , ii. 3. pre-om-I-nate, v. t. [Latin præ before, and ominatus, pa. par. of ominor to presage.] [OMEN.] To prognosticate, to presage, to augur, to portend. ( Browne : Vulgar Errors , bk. v., ch. xxi.) pre-ō-per-cle, 8. [PRE OPERCULUM.] "Two [spots] on the preopercle ."- Field , March 20, 1886. pre-ō-per-cu-lar, præ-ō-per-cu-lar, adj . connected with the pre operculum (q. v.). [Eng., . preopercul(um); -ar] Belonging to or pre-ō-per-cu-lum, præ-ō-per-cu-lŭm, subst. [Pref. pre-, præ-, and Eng., . operculum.] Ichthy.: A sub-semicircular bone, present in the post-orbital part of the head in most Teleosteous Fishes and many Ganoids, and forming part of the gill-cover.